ISORG-limtan project

How info-communication technologies change hotel room reservation services

Information and communication technology is a general term that wraps up all technical ways to process and communicate information. It considers all the usage of the existing digital technologies to help individuals, business and organisations use information. It is usually used to describe digital technologies including communication methods, as well as techniques for storing and processing information. So ICT basically covers any product that retrieves store, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form, such as television, emails, computers etc. ICT allows individuals to participate in a rapidly developing world in which many activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technologies.

ICT has revolutionized hotel room reservations services, making transactions faster, easier, and more convenient than before. The whole process is streamlined to a few simpler steps, shortening the entire time to book a hotel room and everything is made more efficient with the help of information and communication technology. ICT has transformed the way businesses market and sell their products and they can now target both the local and global market. Customers are now able to make hotel reservations etc from the respective websites without the hassle of making repetitive phone calls to the foreign destinations to check for availability. The changes that focus on these technologies (e.g., web searches, websites, and email) are also relatively affordable, which is another reason why companies are slowly turning to this approach.

The web is now a dominant resource for individuals to analyse and do researches before travelling to foreign destinations. This has eliminated the need of foreign hotel operators in providing the hotel room reservation services and information that the individual requires. 

Individuals do not have to make phone calls to acquire the information they need, all the relevant information can be easily retrieved from the website. This has significantly reduced the cost and time for a reservation process. These new wed-based marketing channels have efficiently assist tourists to book hotels and tour packages, boosting productivity. This established global network can reach out to many more customers all over the world, including those in far-off remote foreign destinations. With the fully integrated websites, all the information is easily accessible and customers would also be able to achieve a faster response as there is no longer any time constraint. Hotel room reservations are available 24/7 and customers can easily complete the transaction online, through any form of e-payment.

Advantages of ICT

Our world today has changed a great deal with the aid of Info-Communication Technologies. Things that were once done manually have become computerized operating systems, enabling individuals to get constant information in ‘Real Time” that is up to date.

(i)     Globalization

Info-Communication Technology has brought the world closer together, developing it into a modernized global village. Individual can now share information promptly and efficiently which are simply completed by a single click of a mouse. In addition, ICT tear down geographic and language barriers. Countries like China and India who are not only separated by distance but also by language barriers are now able share to information and ideas with each other through the help of ICT.  Different people from different country can now exchange views and communication with one another, thus increasing awareness and at the same time, bridge cultural gap.

(ii)   Communication

Communication has become cheaper, faster and more efficient. Individual can communicate with anyone around the world now by simple text message, email and Messenger. Moreover, the internet has also opened up face to face direct communication (Video Conferencing) from different parts of the world.  These communication methods usually get an almost instantaneous response at a low cost.

(iii)  Cost effectiveness

ICT has helped to computerize business processes thus streamlining businesses to make them more cost effective. This will in turn increase productivity which ultimately gives rise to profits. With increasing profits, employees enjoy higher pay and less strenuous working conditions.

(iv)  Convenient

ICT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 hours a week all over the globe, making it convenient. Individual are able to book any hotels at anytime, anywhere. The ease of ICT allows business to make more profits. 

Disadvantages of ICT

(i)     Unemployment

ICT smooth the business process, thus creating job redundancy. This means that a lot of the lower and middle level jobs such as Agents have been done away causing more people to become unemployed. Furthermore, many believe that one has to be in a constant learning mode in order to secure their job since technology keeps changing everyday.

(ii)   New divide

With the rapid development of these technologies, the gap between the rich and the poor nations is widening. This is due to the reason that less developed countries do not have access to the new technologies. Poor nations encounter problems investing in these technologies.

(iii) Privacy and Security

Networks and emails can be hack into. Private information such as personal address and credit card number can become public.

Case study: Asiatravel.com

ICT has significantly developed the tourism industry. The internet is the key resource for tourists to book their travel packages to foreign destinations as well as to do a research on these destinations. Comparing to the past, it has eliminated the need for foreign outbound tour operators, thus creating value for local in-bound tour operators and their suppliers to create new web-based marketing channels. When it comes to tourists, ICT has indeed made the world a smaller place. Before travelling to a particular destination, tourists need key information such as the hotels, itineraries, safety as well as how to book travel. They must be aware of these tools and be motivated to use them. The other aim is to ensure that the destination website content has reached out to the target market via the search engine.

Taking the asiatravel.com for an example, it’s a user-generated content site. This is where there is plenty of information on different destinations, product reviews, pictures etc. These tour operators have many linkages where the web is linked to every different tourist websites. Not only do they provide online booking capabilities, which is critical given almost half the tourists book their travel packages online, tourists can easily check out the hotel prices availability etc. Asiatravel.com has an online booking system, it is definitely more efficient in areas such as supply and labour as these systems could now provide a more accurate forecasted sales and better plan management. It has also considerably reduced transaction costs considering the fact that online transactions are generally more efficient as they has eliminated the usage of middle-men operators. In the past, operators often charge high booking fees, roughly about 15percent. Now this function has significantly increased the productivity and they can now reach out and target other markets.

Besides, Asiatravel.com provides a one-stop shopping centre for travellers. Moreover, the design of the website makes its user-friendly, allowing consumers to have access to information effortlessly. Information is classified into different categories – Travel, Deals and More.

Under Travel, consumers will be able to find information on air flights, train tickets and the fares charge. Furthermore, Asistravel.com has a special category just for budgeted consumers. Consumers can find economical deals such as air travel discounts available, cheap hotels available around the world as well as low-cost flights! A “Search” function is also available at the bottom of the website allowing consumers to search for their specific needs. What's more, Asiatravel.com extensively provides car rental information of the different locations for consumers!